DNA Money Edit: Why agriculture needs a booster shot

The ground assessment that a growing distress among farmers has stymied BJP's march in rural Gujarat will surely act as a reminder to the central government. Two back-to-back droughts and a sharp fall in prices of main commercial crops -- especially groundnut and cotton, whose prices dropped below their state-fixed minimum support price (MSP) -- had pushed farmers across the state to a deep crisis.

Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Karnataka go for elections in 2018, and the central government can't ignore the brewing agrarian crisis anymore. All these states have a substantial rural face having significant exposure to agriculture. The government needs to bring agriculture into the main fold of economy. The need of the hour is to support farmers through effective economic policies and do away with farm loan waivers. It is also important to bring the entire farmers' community under the formal procurement system so that raising MSPs will impact their revenues significantly.

Implementing right import policies, setting up adequate buffer stocking of surplus produce, raising MSPs and breaking cartels of traders should be the priority of the government. Otherwise, Narendra Modi's promise of doubling the farmers' income by 2022 will remain a distant dream.